RailEnquiry

Jalandhar: Passengers were today stranded at the Jalandhar City and Cantonment Railway Stations as a number of trains delayed due to the dharna at railway track near Goraya and Dhilwan by 17 associations of labourers and farmers. The associations have given the call of “Rail Roko Andolan” in Punjab from noon to 3.30 pm today.Harnek Singh of Jainpur village in Kapurthala district said: “He had reserved his ticket for Delhi in Swaraj Express. The train was scheduled to reach at 2.45 pm at Jalandhar Cantonment Railway Station, but it arrived here at 4 pm”.Similar was the case of hundreds of other passengers who also remained stranded for hours at the city and cantonment railway stations.The activists of 17 labourers-farmers associations, including Kirti Kisan Union, Pendu Mazdoor Union, Dehati Mazdoor Sabha, Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union and Jamhuri Kisan Sabha, staged dharna at the Goraya railway track in support of their demands for providing Rs 10,000 per acre as compensation to labourers and farmers and declaring Punjab a drought-hit state.Their demands also include 10 marla plot to each labourer and waiving of their pending power bills.State presidents of the Kirti Kisan Union Datar Singh and the Pendu Mazdoor Union Tarsem Peter said: “Instead of providing relief to labourers-farmers (khet mazdoors), the state government has imposed more taxes on them.”